


Somewhere Close to Peace

by secondrobin



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, slightly AU maybe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-01-31
Packaged: 2019-03-11 19:59:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13531476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secondrobin/pseuds/secondrobin
Summary: As a metalworker, Julia was far from a stranger to burns. But this was new, this was different. Julia screamed, and prayed for death.And then the pain stopped.And then she looked up and realized that Death had come.Death smiled, a soft smile with a lingering hint of sadness that spread across his handsome features. “Well, love,” he said with a soft Cockney accent, “I think you've suffered enough.”--Death comes to Julia, and Julia makes a deal.





	Somewhere Close to Peace

**Author's Note:**

> technically part of the "Our Hearts Beat Together" series, but can be read outside of that! 
> 
> I just really, really love Julia

When the bombs went off, Julia and Steven ran.

They gathered everybody they could, helping people get out of their homes and carrying children who didn’t have anyone else to hold them. “Dad,” Julia panted, speaking quietly enough that the children wouldn’t hear her. She coughed, the smoke already beginning to fill her lungs. “What if we don’t get out?”

“We will,” he said plainly, and she believed him. 

They ran faster. A pillar began to fall in front of them, and Julia barked a command that stopped everybody in their tracks before they could move into its path. She and Steven helped everybody climb over it, dozens of people scrambling over the pillar at once to try to get to safety. 

Fires were breaking out all over the city. The smoke was starting to fill the quarter; but there was a path out to a field just up ahead, they could make it before the smoke was too dangerous. They had to make it. 

They made it. Julia gasped, breathing in the clean air as they ran further and further from her burning home. For a moment, tears pricked at the corner of her eyes as she looked at it, as she saw the pillars up in ruins. She inhaled. Exhaled. Pushed aside Julia the Metalworker and stepped back into Julia the Revolutionary Leader. She scanned over the group and surmised very quickly that there were only a few hundred people in the field, which meant that were still several hundred people trapped in the burning city. 

Julia turned to her right and made eye contact with her father. And they both knew that people were dying, and they both knew what they needed to do. To say that they chose to go back in would be incorrect. It wasn’t a choice. It was a simple matter of: people were dying, and they could save them. There was no choice to be made, only actions to be taken.

Steven adjusted the scarf around his neck to cover his face. Julia untied the kerchief that held her hair back and tied it to cover her mouth and nose. She looked at her father, and she didn’t know what to say so she didn’t say anything. She just nodded, and they went back into their burning city. 

Julia called out as loud as she could, searching for anyone still trapped in the city. Over the roar of the fire, panicked voices called out from a nearby house. Julia ran to it, kicking in the door and rushing in to find two elves trapped under a bookshelf. “It’s okay,” she called out, “I’m here, you’ll be okay.” She grabbed the bookshelf and slowly lifted it, holding it up long enough for them to get out. “Flip your aprons up—like that, yeah, cover your mouths and noses. Run to the south, get out to the field; the rocks are stopping the fire from spreading, you’ll be safe there.” 

She helped them out of the house, then sent them running as she continued deeper into the city. Her father was nowhere in sight, and she took only a moment to pray for him before she continued. 

By her admittedly hazy count, she got twenty-four people out of the city. Twenty four lives, she figured, was a pretty damn good exchange for her one. 

As she ran to another house, a flaming pillar fell. It took her a moment to realize what had happened. She was on the ground. That was the first thing she noticed. The second thing she noticed was the pain—the searing, burning pain spreading over her legs. She opened her mouth to scream and inhaled smoke. As a metalworker, Julia was far from a stranger to burns. But this was new, this was different. Julia screamed, and prayed for death. 

And then the pain stopped. 

And then she looked up and realized that Death had come. 

Death smiled, a soft smile with a lingering hint of sadness that spread across his handsome features. “Well, love,” he said with a soft Cockney accent, “I think you've suffered enough.”

He bent down, using strong hands to gently lift her up to her feet. Julia looked around. The world seemed a little dimmer now, all the colors faded to soft pastels. Fire roared in slow motion, and she could no longer hear burning or screaming or crashing. She slowly untied her kerchief from her face, slowly re-tied it around her hair. 

“Was this Kalen?” she asked. Death nodded. “That son of a  _ bitch. _ Is my father dead?”

Death’s eyes went unfocused for a moment. They focused again, and he nodded at her. “Yes. I’m sorry. Someone else just took him to the Astral Plane.”

“Someone else?”

He smiled. “Death is a booming business, Mrs. Burnsides. Too much for me to handle on my own.” He spread out his hands. “We all work for the Queen, bringing souls back to her plane.”

“The Raven Queen.” Julia exhaled, slowly. “What about my husband?”

“Magnus, yes?” He asked, eyebrow raised. Julia nodded. Death’s eyes went unfocused again, and then he fixed with her a sympathetic look that made her heart freeze. “He's not dead just yet; but he's on the list, I’m afraid. Kalen’s soldiers are en route to him now. I’m sorry.”

Julia inhaled. Exhaled. She pushed aside the tightening of her chest, and she looked up at Death and said “I’d like to play a game.”

“A game?”

“A wager. For Magnus’ soul.”

Death laughed. “And what would I get, if I won?”

“Anything you want. A favor.”

Death smiled at her. “I’m really not supposed to do that anymore, Mrs. Burnsides.” 

Julia cocked an eyebrow at him. “Scared you'll lose?”

He laughed again. “You really think that's going to work?”

 

* * *

“Shit. Fuck. Godsdammit. I am so fired.”

Julia grinned, looking over at Death. She tossed his king up and down, letting it sail up into the air and fall back into her hand. “I believe we had a deal, Mr. Death.”

He sighed, standing. She stood to face him, not giving back his king. “That we did. And please, Mrs. Burnsides, call me Kravitz.”

“Call me Julia.”

“I can see why your revolution was so successful. You’re an incredible strategist.”

“I know. Thank you. Are you going to save my husband now?”

Death—Kravitz—offered her an elbow. “After I escort you over, yes.”

Julia hesitated. “You swear you’ll do it?”

“On the Raven Queen, I swear.”

“Alright.” Still, she hesitated. Kravitz frowned, putting his arm down and taking a step closer to her.

“Miss Julia,” he said softly, “If you’d like to switch the terms of the wager, you can.”

“Switch the…? Ah.” Julia paused. “What if I beat you again? Can I save us both? Can I keep beating you until I save everyone?”

“I’m sorry, Miss Julia, that…” He sighed. “That would be far, far too outside the realm of the rules. I can give you one soul. I’m sorry.”

Julia sighed. She closed her eyes, she slowly twisted the wedding ring around her finger, and she tried not to cry. “We were about to start trying for children, you know,” she says. 

“I know.”

“It's not fair.”

“It isn't,” he agrees, “Not at all.” A pause. “For what it's worth, Julia, I’m so sorry.”

She nods, not opening her eyes. “Dying hurt.”

“I know. I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner.”

Julia slowly opened her eyes, letting out a long, steady breath. She blinked back the tears welling up in her eyes, and she held a hand out to Kravitz. “Okay,” she said, “To the Astral Plane, I guess.” 

People say that the second your soulmate dies, you know. When Julia left the Prime Material Plane, she didn’t feel anything particularly different. When Julia left the Prime Material Plane, Magnus paused—just for a second, a fraction of a moment—as if something was bothering him. But he brushed it off, and he continued. 

Behind him, a soldier crept. The soldier’s head would be removed from their body before they could remove their sword from its sheath. Magnus would be safe.

In the Astral Plane, Kravitz walked with her through the crowd of new arrivals until they spotted her father. He helped her navigate through the crowds to him, and he stood guard with those watching red eyes of his as they hugged, as Julia apologized and Steven told her not to. After a few minutes, Kravitz spoke softly: “I think it’s time, then.” 

As Julia lost herself among the other souls, she had several prolonged moments for her last thoughts. She regretted, then, never having worshiped the Raven Queen in life; this final moment was worth a thousand lifetimes of worship. When you die your mortal death, when your death is painful and filled with fire, you don’t have any true last moments. Everything is too fast-paced and too painful to pick your last thoughts. But here, Julia closed her eyes and squeezed the king in her pocket and thought of Magnus. She wasn’t at peace, exactly. But she was close.

 

* * *

“Kravitz.”

Kravitz exhaled, eyes locked onto the floor as he kneeled in front of her throne. “My Queen?”

“You made another bet, it seems.”

“I… yes.” 

“And you lost this bet, it seems.”

“That… would be correct, yes.”

“And.” The whisper of unfurling parchment sounded above him, and he looked up to see her red eyes narrowed as she stared at a list. “You prevented the death of someone my bounty hunters have been pursuing for quite a while, it seems.”

“I…” He frowned. “Pardon?”

“Do you know who Magnus Burnsides is, Kravitz?”

“Uh.” He blinked, going back to Julia’s file. “Magnus ‘the Hammer’ Burnsides, 26 years old, lives—lived—in Raven’s Roost, former fighter turned carpenter. How could be a bounty?”

“Because—” she flipped the parchment around for him to see, “—Magnus Burnsides has died 19 times, Kravitz, and he’s yet to check into the Astral Plane  _ once. _ ”

“Oh. Shit.”

“‘Oh, shit’ is right.”

He cleared his throat. “Am I, uh. Am I fired?”

The Raven Queen stared at him for a long moment. And then, ever so slowly, she smiled. “No, Kravitz. You’re being promoted.”

“Um.” He blinked. “Pardon?”

“Since you helped Magnus escape, it’s only fair that you help bring him in.” Her smile widened in a way that made his stomach twist. “Kravitz, would you like to hunt bounties?”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr at fullyrealized.tumblr.com!


End file.
